The demise of the 2500 Suburban

Jamm3r
We work very closely with a few folks at GM (on the down low) on the changes that come down the line from year to year and like you, we hear these rumors every year, There will be a split year for 2014 much like what you saw in late 2006 with the Tahoe and in 2007 with the Silverado (OBS and NBS) selling new at the same time.

Traditionally GM retools the Mexico plant first then the US plant, for whatever unknown reason the powers to be decided to retool both plants to the GMT1000 platform at the same time, what that means for us is for the next year the only new 2500 SUV's will be the ones stockpiled in the Pig-Pens built until 6/13.

You will be waiting till late 2014 for the GMT1000 2500 SUV. sorry

The 2014 2500 SUV will carry the same front diff configuration as the new GMT1000 2500/3500 Silverado and it will be going to the 8x180 wheel pattern, the rear diff stays with the 10.5" ring gear, the 6.0 will get the GDI system as the 4.8 & 5.3 but still no DOD. We heard rumors of the 6.2 appearing with a cast iron block but that was debunked :-( To bad as it would have been cool.

Don't waste time asking dealers anything, the honest ones will tell you they are the last to know anything, you would think GM would feed them some kind of info but they dont, they just log in one day and "poof" new RPO codes.

Finally!!! someone agreed with me on this (or at least admitted that they agree!) We also have 3 kids, (5,2, and 25 weeks) That is how I ended up with the yukon xl and now the dodge minivan for my wife. My sister with 2 kids drives around with a huge topper on the vehicle. But, she is also the one that shows up at the zoo with a wagon full of crap to only stay there for 2-4 hours. We show up with a small diaper bag (if I don't have cargo pants on) and a stroller for the little one.

You might laugh at this one. They make a vest called the daiperdad vest. I have considered buying one. They are a little spendy for me. But, being a stay at home dad it would sure beat carrying around a diaper bag (I do not carry a diaper bag, we have a small backpack, there is no way my wife or I would be caught dead with a huge diaper bag) Here is a link of the vest. https://www.dadgear.com/products/Vest/44/DIAPER-VEST®-Orange-(M)

My information, The manager of the service Dept for our GM store here (a very close friend) has a brother-in-law who manages the equipment maintenance dept at the Arlington plant

BAD NEWS

some of our fed info is accurate but some unknown

the Mexico plant in Silao was retooled and has been building the new generation of direct injected V8 family (obviously as they are out) for some time now.

but no V V T 6.0s are showing up at the Arlington plant anymore

He said even Reuben Jones the assistant plant manager doesn't know for sure but it dose seem odd that as the changes are going into effect (the stamping equipment for the 2015 line is up and running now) and frames are coming in but no 3/4 ton hardware.

It could come in later as they do build the 2500's in batch runs but Ricks brother-in-law said they should at least see hardware, but there are no 10.5" rear diffs or 6.0's nor any 8 lug wheel packs.

They build the 2500 SUV in batch runs and then put them in the "Pig Pen" for later shipment, I understand that on retool it is last to be built, Tahoe/Yukon/Escalade/ then Suburban/XL/ESV and last 2500 Sub/Yuk

PS the Escalade was first this time and its body is in production and will arrive as the 2014

soooooo its possible that it will be later in 2014

We here at DuraBurb obviously stay very close to these changes and so I talked with Donna (client relations) over at the Arlington plant and she admits that there are a lot of rummers rolling around the production floor but the powers to be have not said yea or nae and that neither the staff, she or even Reuben really know for sure.

As for now all that is known is the option for a 2500 SUV is not currently available and that yes the 25906 GMT900 is discontinued, while there are still plenty in the yard for the next year of sales. But as Donna said "just because we discontinue a old platform while still building variants of it does not mean it wont return on the new platform, we just aren't building the old one anymore".

I think the confusion comes in where folks see "DISCONTINUED" and the think "GONE" but that may be an over statement that just may not be totally true.

As a side note the body mount torque carriage isn't scheduled to be retooled which would indicate that the body mount positions have not changed so worst case we can always re-frame the 2015 with a GMT900 25906 frame and still continue the 2500 Duramax Suburban.

I wanted a suburban that would remind me i'm NOT driving my wife's minivan, so I bought a 2011 2500 4x4. I love it! It's big, loud and stiff just like the trucks/4x4's i grew up with up in Minnesota farm country. The 2500's stand out from the 1500's that are on every corner in the big cities in TX where i live now.

Drives great out on the highway (14mpg) but then again, it sucks on speed bumps at the local grocery store. Watch you head!

Would really be unfortunate if these go away. Am looking forward to pulling the snowmobiles this winter and the boats next summer with it.